Office of Vital Records and Statistics

Birth certificates, 1905-

View history of records' creator.

Schedule Description

These records support the agency's function to document, preserve, and certify the facts of births for residents of the state. These certificates serve as the official legal record of all live births in the state and as such are valid for all purposes where a certificate is required by the state or federal government ("Laws of Utah," 1905, chapter 120). They are also used to prepare an annual compilation, analysis, and publication of statistics (Utah Code 26-2-3 (2013)). Records contain details of an individual's birth and parentage. An electronic index for records dating from 1981 and later is included; Soundex indices for records ranging from 1905 to 1980 are contained in a separate record series.

Scope and Content

This is the permanent legal record of all live births in the state filed with the Utah Office of Vital Records and Statistics in compliance with UCA 26-2-5. The information recorded in 1905 included the newborn child's full name, sex, date of birth, place of birth, whether a single or multiple births took place, the parents' names, race (color), ages, birthplaces, occupations, and marital status, and the number of children born to the mother. Later certificates also record the length of the pregnancy, the child's weight and length at birth, the date of the serological test, a description of any complications, and a description of any congenital malformations or birth injuries.

Vital Records and Statistics began issuing birth certificates in March 1905. The Utah law requiring the registration of all births (and deaths) within the state (Laws of Utah, 1905, chapter 120) followed the guidelines of the U.S. Census Bureau in an effort to maintain uniform and accurate registration of all deaths nationwide. The original 1905 state statute provided that certificates issued by Vital Records would be legal documents that "shall be prima facie evidence in all courts and places of the facts therein stated." As a permanent legal record, the certificate is valid for all purposes where a certificate is required by the state or federal government (i.e., to register for school, apply for a Social Security card, apply for a U.S. passport, etc.)

Included are Supplemental Report of Birth forms, which are used to certify that a name has been given to a child who was unnamed at the time the original birth certificate was filed, and Affidavit to Amend a Record forms, which are used to correct erroneous information or provide information missing from the original record. In some cases, these documents may be supplemented by correspondence or a copy of church records.

Throughout 1905, many physicians and midwives in Salt Lake City continued to use the Salt Lake City Board of Health Birth Return forms (postcards) in use before the state began registering births in March 1905 instead of the new State Board of Health forms.

Certificate forms are revised periodically to ensure that the data collected relate to current and future needs. In the revision process, each information field is evaluated thoroughly for its registration, legal, statistical, medical, and research value. Statistical data from birth certificates helps to identify public health problems and measure the results of programs established to alleviate these problems.

Notes

This series is updated annually when a new set of birth certificates becomes accessible to the public.

"The files of the Ogden City Board of Health (Weber County Building, Ogden, Utah) contain some births for 1905 which are not of record in State files. If a 1905 birth may not be found registered for Weber County, the applicant should be advised to make search at Ogden Registrar's office before proceeding with delayed birth registration, to be sure he hasn't a certificate filed when he was born. Division of Vital Statistics, 130 State Capitol, Salt Lake City, Utah"

Microfilming by the Utah State Archives and digitization by the Genealogical Society of Utah is completed in an ongoing process. Certificates had been bound into volumes by Vital Records and Statistics. The bindings of several volumes had become broken due to continued use. Others had been removed from the binding in order for Vital Records to make certified copies for individuals who needed copies. As a preservation measure, and to facilitate microfilming and digitization, all certificates were removed from the bound volumes and foldered. Supplemental reports typically were glued or pasted to the back of the original certificate. Often, certificates in front and behind of the original all became glued together. When it was not possible to separate them without damaging one or more certificates, they were left attached.

Utah birth certificates were initially processed by W. Glen Fairclough, Jr., in April 2006. Microfilming by the Utah State Archives was completed in October 2006 for 1905. When additional birth certificates become accessible to the public each year, this series is updated annually.

This series is updated annually when a new set of birth certificates over one hundred years old becomes accessible to the public. For more recent records, or for certified copies, researchers should contact the Office of Vital Records and Statistics.